Franklin Felix Nicola (1860–1938) was an American real estate developer. [1]
Franklin Felix Nicola (1860–1938) was an American real estate developer. [1]
Nicola was a Cleveland businessman who moved to Pittsburgh during the 1890s. [2]
In 1898, he opened the Hotel Schenley (now William Pitt Union). [2]
During the early 20th century, he promoted and developed a civic center plan for the Oakland district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania —miles away from the city's smokey, congested downtown—as a new center for culture, art, and education. [3] The plan was inspired by the City Beautiful movement.
Nicola was also key in the formation of the Bellefield Company, partnering with Pittsburgh businessmen Andrew W. Mellon, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse, and H.J. Heinz, who were among the first stockholders. The Oakland plan unfolded on land once owned by fellow stockholder Mary Croghan Schenley. Nicola's company, Schenley Land Co., purchased the last of Mary Schenley's estate in 1905 and transformed the open acreage into a host of new urban landmarks: the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, entire campuses both for the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), Forbes Field, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, the Masonic Temple (now the University of Pittsburgh's Alumni Hall), the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Schenley Hotel, and an upscale residential neighborhood, Schenley Farms. [4] Today Nicola's model urban suburb is a listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district.
Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood.
Oakland is the academic and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and one of the city's major cultural centers. Home to three universities, museums, hospitals, shopping venues, restaurants, and recreational activities, this section of the city also includes two city-designated historic districts: the mostly residential Schenley Farms Historic District and the predominantly institutional Oakland Civic Center Historic District, as well as the locally-designated Oakland Square Historic District.
Schenley Park is a large municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. In 2011, the park was named one of "America's Coolest City Parks" by Travel + Leisure.
Highland Park is a neighborhood in the northeastern part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Highland Park, the neighborhood, fully encompasses the park with the same name.
East Liberty is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's East End. It is bordered by Highland Park, Morningside, Stanton Heights, Garfield, Friendship, Shadyside and Larimer, and falls largely within Pittsburgh City Council District 9, with a few areas in District 8. One of the most notable features in the East Liberty skyline is the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, which is an area landmark.
Flagstaff Hill is a large, gently sloping hill in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, located near Oakland.
Henry Hornbostel was an American architect and educator. Hornbostel designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States. Twenty-two of his designs are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Oakland City Hall in Oakland, California and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum and University Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The William Pitt Union, which was built in 1898 as the Hotel Schenley, is the student union building of the University of Pittsburgh main campus, and is a Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark.
Edward Manning Bigelow, known as the "father of Pittsburgh's parks", was an American City Engineer and later Director of Public Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was responsible for major improvements in city's infrastructure, such as new boulevards, waterworks, and parks, many of them in today's Oakland neighborhood.
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy was founded in December 1996 by a group of citizens concerned with the deteriorating conditions of Pittsburgh’s historic city parks. A non-profit organization, the Parks Conservancy works closely with the City of Pittsburgh under an official public-private partnership agreement to restore and improve the city’s park system to its full potential. To date, the Parks Conservancy has raised more than $130 million and completed 22 major park improvement projects. A team of 40 dedicated Parks Conservancy employees work with thousands of volunteers, host hundreds of events, and provide programming for more than 7,500 children annually.
Schenley Plaza is a public park serving as the grand entrance into Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Stephen Foster is a landmark public sculpture in bronze by Giuseppe Moretti formerly located on Schenley Plaza in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly sited along Forbes Avenue near the entrance of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, in the shadow of Dippy, a life-size sculpture of a Diplodocus dinosaur, and in close proximity to the University of Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial, the Foster statue is one of the city's best known and most controversial. It was removed on April 26, 2018 on the unanimous vote of the Pittsburgh Art Commission.
Junction Hollow is a small wooded valley bordering the west flanks of Schenley Park and the campus of Carnegie Mellon University and the southern edge of the University of Pittsburgh's campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley was an American philanthropist to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Pittsburgh Athletic Association at the University of Pittsburgh is a historic, Benno Janssen designed building located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened as the home of a private social and athletic club of the same name, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Forbes Avenue is one of the longest streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It runs along an east–west route for a length of approximately 7 mi (11 km).
The Schenley Farms Historic District, also referred to as the Schenley Farms–Oakland Civic District, is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places that is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
Oakland Square Historic District in the Central Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, contains 99 properties. The core of the district surrounds Oakland Square, with the remaining properties along Parkview Avenue and Dawson Street. The neighborhood was conceived in the 1890s by developer Eugene O'Neill and were inspired by the urban design of Victorian England and Dublin. The district was added to the List of City of Pittsburgh historic designations on June 14, 2005.
Saint Paul Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. St. Paul parish was established in 1833.
The Westinghouse Memorial is a bronze monument located in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It commemorates George Westinghouse, an engineer, founder of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and inventor of the railway air brake. The memorial is located at the entrance to the Steven Faloon trail, a part of Schenley Park. The architects for the monument and the surrounding area were Henry Hornbostel and Eric Fisher Wood. Daniel Chester French was the sculptor for the statue and the main panel, and Paul Fjelde designed the side panels.